A Christmas to Remember
by xpurebloodprofilersx
Summary: Emily has a Christmas surprise for Hotch and Jack.


"Hurry up!" seven-year-old Jack Hotchner whined at his dad and Emily, who were both a little bleary eyed as they waited for the first pot of coffee to finish brewing – it'd been a late night at Rossi's at the team's annual Christmas Eve party, and Jack had woken them up at the crack of dawn. It'd been just past six when their son ran into their bedroom to get them up so they could see what Santa brought for him. He'd been none too pleased to find out that his parents were going to make him wait in the kitchen with them until they'd had their caffeine.

"It's almost done, buddy," Hotch told him.

"No peeking," Emily said when Jack started to try to peer around the corner towards the Christmas tree. He pouted, but was still bouncing up and down in excitement. She handed him a glass of orange juice.

"Do we want to make the cinnamon rolls right away?" Hotch asked.

"No!" Jack exclaimed. "That'll take forever!"

"Jack–" Hotch started to scold.

"No, Aaron, he's right," Emily said, a little smile on her face. "That'll take way too long. Let's go open presents."

He gave her a soft smile, and Jack could tell that his dad had been won over. "Alright," Hotch agreed, pouring two mugs of coffee and handing one to his wife. "Let's go see what Santa brought."

"Yay!" Jack exclaimed, abandoning his orange juice and running to the living room. Emily and Hotch followed, hand in hand, both chuckling at the little boy's eagerness.

"Wow!" Jack said when he laid eyes on the brightly colored presents under the tree that hadn't been there the night before. "He came!"

"Of course he came, honey," Emily said, exchanging a private smile with Hotch. "You've been good all year!"

"And he ate the cookies!" Jack said happily, pointing to the plate they'd left out, which now held only crumbs. "Can I open the presents now?"

"One picture first," Emily said, taking out her new camera. She snapped one of Jack sitting in front of the tree, an obviously exaggerated smile on his face as he resisted the urge to tear into the presents.

"Now?" Jack asked.

"Let's get one of all three of us first," Hotch said. They set up the timer, and Jack joined the two of them on the loveseat.

"Now?"

"Make sure the picture looks okay," his dad told him.

Jack grabbed the camera and brought it back to them, and Emily looked back at the picture. All three of them were smiling, even Hotch, and their matching Christmas pajamas made them look like a family from a typical Hallmark holiday movie. "It's perfect," Emily said happily, leaning against her husband's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

" _Now_ can I open them?" Jack pleaded.

"Alright, baby, go ahead," Emily told him finally, and she and Hotch watched happily as Jack ripped open present after present. He exaggerated his love for each one, and even pretended to like the socks they'd gotten him, but it was clear that his favorite gifts were the soccer ball, model airplane, and Darth Vader night light. Hotch got some socks too, a few new ties for work, and a travel mug, and Emily got a blanket, a stack of new books and a beautiful, way-too-expensive pair of earrings. Sergio was happy just to curl up in one of the cardboard boxes they'd discarded.

Finally they opened their presents from Santa – it turned out he'd gotten all of them Nerf guns, and Emily and Hotch promised Jack that they'd have a Nerf war later that day.

"Thanks, guys!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his arms around both of them. "This is the best Christmas ever!"

"Jack," Emily said, a tiny smile touching the corners of her lips, "I think I see one more present over there."

"Where?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"There," Emily pointed. "Kind of behind the TV stand."

Hotch gave her a confused look – they'd wrapped everything together, so what was this?

Jack grabbed the present, and then looked up at his stepmom. "It doesn't have a tag," he told her.

"It's for everybody. Bring it over here and let Dad open it."

Jack handed the package to Hotch.

"What is it?" Hotch asked Emily, holding it in his lap.

"Open it and find out," she commanded, that little smile still on her face.

Hotch pulled the paper off and opened the box. He reached inside, and pulled out a little pair of white booties.

For a second he just looked confused, and then his eyes darted upwards to meet hers – she was watching him a little nervously.

"Really?" Hotch asked hopefully. Emily nodded, smiling and biting her lip.

"Oh my God," he said, his eyes starting to fill with tears. "Em..." he leaned forward and kissed her, and she could feel his lips smiling against hers. He slid his hand under her pajama top, resting it on her still-flat stomach. "When did you find out?"

"Just last week," she told him. "I was going to tell you sooner, but then I thought it could be a Christmas surprise..." she hesitated a brief second and then asked, "You're happy, right?"

"Absolutely," he told her, his eyes shining with complete adoration as he looked at her. "Sweetheart, this is wonderful... I love you _so_ much..."

"I love you, too," she said happily.

"Wait," Jack said then, his brow furrowed. "Are you having a baby?"

"Yeah, honey, we are," Emily told him, a bit nervous for his reaction. "What do you think about that?"

"I get to be a big brother?" he asked.

She nodded, and Jack threw his arms around her neck. "That's awesome!" the seven-year-old exclaimed. "I always wanted to be a big brother – this really _is_ the best Christmas ever!"

Her first Christmas as a Hotchner, and she had Aaron's baby growing in her belly, and the sweetest stepson in the world... Emily had to agree, this definitely was the best Christmas ever.


End file.
